Teaching English in Thailand

The licence, or a permit to teach without one

Thai law requires anyone who teaches in a school to hold a teaching licence from the Teachers’ Council of Thailand, the Khurusapha (คุรุสภา), and forbids schools to employ unlicensed teachers without the Council’s permission. Most foreign teachers start on that permission: a temporary teaching permit, often called the waiver.

• Who qualifies: people aged 20 or over with a degree in education, or a bachelor’s degree in a subject the school needs, or, without a degree, a teaching licence from another country.
• Who applies: the school, for a named teacher, case by case.
• How long: up to two years at a time, and no more than six years in all. Within those six years the teacher is expected to meet the qualifications for a full licence.
• What else is asked: employers’ notices ask foreign teachers to meet the Council’s standards of professional knowledge and to take a recognised course on Thai language and culture.

The full licence follows the Council’s regulations for foreign teachers: broadly, an education degree, or another degree with recognised teacher training, with experience and the Council’s course requirements. If you plan to stay more than a few years, ask your school early how you will get there.

Degree, TEFL and background check

The degree is the real gate: the permit asks for one, and the teacher visa asks for the certificate authenticated by your own country. A TEFL certificate is not in the Council’s criteria, but employers commonly ask for one. A 2025 government hiring notice, for example, asked holders of degrees outside education for a 120-hour TEFL, a TKT, a Trinity TESOL or CELTA. The visa also asks for a criminal record certificate from your country, authenticated, so start on it before you leave home; it can take weeks.

Visa and work permit, step by step

1. The job offer. The school or agency sends a contract, its registration and a letter of approval from the Ministry of Education’s office that oversees it: the Office of the Private Education Commission for private schools, or the educational service area office for state schools.
2. The Non-B visa. You apply through the Thai e-Visa site with those papers and your authenticated degree and criminal record. The visa is single entry, must be used within 90 days of issue and gives a stay of 90 days.
3. The work permit. Within those 90 days the school files for your work permit at the Department of Employment: in Bangkok at one of the city’s employment offices, elsewhere at the provincial office. Do not start teaching until it is issued.
4. The one-year extension. With the work permit, you apply at the immigration office for an extension of stay, usually for a year, with the school’s letter on your position, salary and contract, and the licence or the permit or its application.
5. While you work: 90-day reports, a re-entry permit before any trip abroad, and the renewal of the work permit and the extension every year. The immigration overview explains each.

What it pays

There is no national pay scale for foreign teachers, and employers rarely publish salaries. These are the figures employers themselves have published:

Two things matter as much as the monthly figure: whether you are paid during the school holidays (an eight- or ten-month contract is not paid in the gap), and who pays for the visa, the work permit and the licence courses.

The school year and hiring

The Thai school year runs from mid-May to March, in two terms: the first from mid-May to October, the second from November to March. In 2026 most state schools opened on Monday 18 May. Schools hire most heavily in the weeks before each term, from March to May and in September and October, and fill gaps at other times. International schools mostly follow an August-to-June year and recruit many months ahead.

Red flags

• “Start now, we will do the visa later.” Working on a tourist visa or a visa exemption is illegal for you and the school. Fines for teachers run from 5,000 to 50,000 baht with deportation, and someone fined for working without a permit can be refused one for two years.
• No work permit after your first weeks. If the school has not filed for it, ask why, in writing.
• An employer who keeps your passport. Hand it over only for a visit to an office, and take it back the same day.
• A contract in Thai only, or with deductions that were never mentioned: for housing, “visa fees” or leaving early.
• An agency that will not name the school you will teach at until you arrive.
• Pressure to do border runs to stay legal. A real employer gets you the right visa and extension.

Sources

Checked 11 October 2026 against the sources below. Rules, fees and dates change, sometimes at short notice: confirm with your school, the Teachers’ Council of Thailand and the Immigration Bureau before you rely on them.

• Criteria for granting a temporary teaching permit to foreign teachers (English and Thai), Teachers’ Council of Thailand, published by the Office of the Private Education Commission
• Notice hiring foreign teachers, June 2025 (Thai), Sa Kaeo Primary Educational Service Area Office 2
• Non-Immigrant visa (B) for employment as a teacher: checklist, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Employment as a teacher in Thailand, Royal Thai Consulate-General, Chicago
• Lecturer post, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Mahidol University
• Hourly paid instructor of English, British Council Thailand
• Department of Employment on work permits and penalties (April 2026), Thai PBS World
• State schools open the 2026 school year on 18 May (Thai), Bangkok Biz News